Australian-born Simon Burke will be the new Captain Von Trapp in the Jeremy Sams London Palladium production of The Sound of Music, beginning September 24. He replaces Alexander Hanson.

Burke's been seen on stage in The Phantom of the Opera and A Little Night Music. Down under, he's been Billy Crocker in Anything Goes and Billy Flynn in Chicago. (What's next, Billy Bigelow in Carousel?)

The current Sound of Music cast includes Connie Fisher as Maria, Aoife Mulholland plays the part twice a week, Lauren Ward as the Baroness, Margaret Preece as the Mother Abbess, Ian Gelder as Max, Sophie Bould as Liesl, and Neil McDermott as Rolf.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic originally bowed in New York at the Lunt-Fontanne on November 16, 1959. It starred Mary Martin as Maria, Theodore Bikel as the Captain, Patricia Neway as the Mother Abbess, Marion Marlowe as Elsa, Lauri Peters as Liesl and Kurt Kasner as Max, among others. It won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The 1965 film, which starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, won five Oscars, including Best Picture.